Cultivating a Warrior Mindset

[Lumpy196]

A couple of years living in the inner city went a loooong way in this regard.

[Irish]

SO true!!!! How can you call yourself a warrior if you've never been to war or participated in a conflict as a combatant like LEO's?? You might think you have the mindset, but until the bullets, bombs, rockets, fists,etc... start flying your way, you don't know how you will react, so you can't be a warrior. You have to be involved in conflict in some fashion or another.
Training and playing with guns and tools of the trade is great but does not make you a warrior. And I know a lot of the civilians will probably dissagree with this view, and it's no surprise. I guess it's your only defense, you have no other argument. With that said, you might have a warrior mindset and that's great, but your not a warrior until you've been tested and proven in a constant conflict, war, even the streets as a LEO. They can be warriors, they've been tested, it's not hypothetical and they don't play fight either.

Sitting behind your computer all dressed in black fantasizing about being in great battles killing all the enemy, saving your team from almost sure annihilation and emerging from the dust filled battle field with a bloody cheek while typing away at your keyboard does not make you anything. Killing all the bad guys with your Xbox doesn't make you one either. Hence the term internet commando, or armchair warrior etc.... Included in that list is going to the range with your jungle boots on and pants bloused, crispy clean brand new vest and your thigh rig.

You really want to find out if you're a warrior, get away from your computer and TALKING about it, join the military or Police, train, prepare and go to war or patrol the streets of your city. If you can't do that then I'm sorry, you will never really know if you're a warrior. It's just how it works. And even if one has been to all this crap etc... it doesn't necessarily make one a warrior either.

R.

I'll respectfully disagree with your assertion that somehow the police and the military are cut from the same cloth. Our civilian police officers should not be characterized as warriors in any sense of the word in comparison to our soldiers, sailors, marines & airmen fighting overseas, nor should we want them to be. They are two very different jobs with two very different skill sets. Losing sight of that is very dangerous in a free society.

Our police are often courageous, compassionate and at times have to make split second decisions which impact not only their lives but many people in their community. I'm not trying to take anything away from them or their job but the military and the police should not be viewed as one and the same for what I believe to be obvious reasons.

[rickp]

irish,
I completely agree. what I was trying to communicate was that their environment is conducive to that test of how one will react based on your mindset.. It's more of a big picture thing as opposed to focusing on the specific job. Just as they have to be courteous, a team serving a warrant, or kicking the door in a crack house the mindset is there as is that test i mentioned. Even though an LEO is being courteous, his mindset has to ready for that situation to change in a split second, at which point he might be fighting for his life.
A warrior is not always about being aggressive and on the hunt, and LEOs fit that bill as you mentioned.
Like I mentioned in a previous post, IMO it's more of a mindset than an action, but it has to be tested at some point. LEOs do the job everyday even though they know they might not go home. They still perform that traffic stop, they still serve that warrant etc...that's all part of that test.

I don't know if I'm being clear enough.

R.

[GTF425]

1). How do you define Warrior Mindset? What does it entail? Surely it is not simply synonymous with aggression. In fact, I would imagine that lack of emotional motivation would be nothing but a good thing. However, I would like to know your perspective.

2). How do you cultivate Warrior Mindset for yourself? Is it inherent in one's personality or is it learned. Like most things, I would imagine some of both. How does one train their mind/perspective to develop such a mindset?

1) The ability to close with and kill your enemy in the face of great adversity.

2) It's not something that is learned, but rather discovered within you. A wuss is a wuss regardless of how much training they put themselves through.

[GTF425]

Please, this is not the Special ****ing Olympics. Not everyone gets a prize, just because they want to play.

ROFLSAURUS REX

[DDgunslinger]

.....

[theblackknight]

Being a warrior seems to be guys pointing out how other guys claim to be warriors, and how you are because your not pointing it out, which just means you pointed it out.

Chest beating

Delta tells SF guys,Sf tells Rangers, Rangers tell Infantry, Infantry tell Pogues and NG,and those guys tell cops" your not this because your not us, and you don't do what we do."

"A real man,warrior,war fighteretc dosent need xxxx xxx. . ." The false modesty alert.

[ArcticMan]

I'll respectfully disagree with your assertion that somehow the police and the military are cut from the same cloth.

Can you explain further?

I'll assume that when you say "military" you are referring to the warriors in combat arms (no disrespect to anyone who served in support units, their service is both critical and honorable).

What about the Infantryman who later becomes a police officer? Does he "uncut" himself from the warrior cloth and cast himself anew?

I think I understand where you are going with this. But I also must respectfully disagree (one a few points).

First, I must agree with you that the military mission and police mission are vastly different, but the warrior mindset needs to be the same for both.

The same war fighting skill sets found on the battlefield is very much needed and used in law enforcement. How different is a raid on a suspected insurgent house in Iraq/Afghanistan than on a drug dealer's house in hometown USA?(minus the obvious, I'm more speaking of the warrior mindset of those involved).

This is a huge can of worms and a topic that will never get everyone to agree on.

But from my limited experiences in life I formed some opinions:

just because you had 11B as an MOS didn't make you a "warrior" (some were worthless in the field and found "jobs" in the rear).

The worst garrison soldiers tended to be the best "field" soldiers and vice versa.

The lessons learned while on deployment...those lessons and skills that kept you alive and successful in the battlefield will keep you alive and successful on the street.

The soldier that doesn't embrace the warrior mindset is flirting with death, the same is true for the police officer.

[Magic_Salad0892]

Play Call of Duty and Medal of Honor for hours at a time. That will help.

Done, and done!

(BTW: The ending of Medal of Honor is a real tribute to those overseas. Go and YouTube the ending.)

[120mm]

I brought this up to my wife today, and she cornered me on it, and forced me to develop a good analogy to demonstrate what I mean.

Here it is in a nutshell. A soldier goes to war because he is directed to. A warrior goes to war because he wants to.

There are lots of good examples that serve as rough analogies:
Joshua Chamberlain - Soldier
George Custer - Warrior

Bradley - Soldier
Patton - Warrior

Dick Winters - Soldier
Ronald Speirs - Warrior

One should note something about the above list. Each and every one of the "soldiers" in the above list executed their duties superbly. Most historians and the individuals themselves agree that Custer, Patton and Speirs really enjoyed war; they craved it, in fact. The other three were incredibly successful, but pry would've been happy if they'd never "seen the elephant". Note that in my taxonomy, "warrior" is used to distinguish from "soldier" or "administrator" or "clerk". There is nothing intrinsically wrong with "soldier", "administrator" or "clerk", and a well trained clerk with a gun is more than good enough for our purposes. And a large group of even moderately trained clerks will kill the **** out of some warriors.

So, back to the OP - the Warrior Mindset is neither desirable nor is it necessary to use controlled violence. Because Warriors crave war, by definition. Train as hard and as well as you can, and trust your training. Frankly, I wish the military, trainers and for God's sake corporate culture would just STFU about "warrior".